Paul McCartney reminded of ‘cool factor’

Sir Paul McCartney says his "cool factor" is "occasionally shown to [him]" by hip artists.

The Beatles legend has a celebrated music career and is regularly hailed as one of the greatest recording artists of all time.

Paul doesn't really understand his status in the music world - although he gets reminded sporadically thanks to current icons in the industry.

"Not really. But occasionally it'll get shown to me," he told Shortlist magazine when asked if he's aware of his 'cool factor'.

"If someone such as Dave Grohl wants me to play with him then I think that's pretty cool, because he's a cool guy and he likes me and he likes my playing and he wants me to sing with him. So that kind of keeps it topped up.

"A few years ago we did Coachella and that was very cool. I did it for the same reason that we did Glastonbury.

Someone said, 'I was at Glastonbury last year. It was great. Late at night, walking around all the campfires, everyone singing Beatles songs…' I thought, 'Oh, right. I could do that.' They may be young, they may be old, but they still know Beatles stuff, they still like the songs."

Paul is performing at the opening ceremony for the London Olympics. The 70-year-old star has joked about messing up during the high-profile show.

"Oh God, that'd be good, wouldn't it? Make a mistake at the Olympics. 'Hi there. Listen, welcome to Britain. I just wanted to stop the song, just for a minute. We'll start again…'" he quipped.